By 1812Blockhouse
In a recent Twitter thread, the Greater Ohio Policy Center set out to review the impact which the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the finances of Ohio’s “smaller legacy cities,” including Mansfield.
In Greater Ohio parlance, a smaller legacy city is one of 16 in Ohio which have long industrial histories, population loss, and current populations of 30,000 to 250,000. These cities are called “the backbone of Ohio.”
Greater Ohio reviewed updates from several of those communities, first looking at the results of a May survey and then comparing and contrasting the current economic situation in each.
Several findings emerged.
For one, in May, three of those cities had furloughed staff; as of July, that number had risen to seven. In another, losses related to a decrease in income tax revenue ranged from five to fifteen percent of municipal budgets.
Locally, the Richland County Commissioners’ look at distributing $500,000 to improve wi-fi connectivity for county school children was referenced.
The transcribed Twitter thread can be accessed here.
